{"id":56564,"date":"2025-10-02T16:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/56564\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T16:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:19:09","slug":"whanganui-bodybuilders-sweep-national-competition-with-two-time-mr-new-zealand-as-their-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/56564\/","title":{"rendered":"Whanganui bodybuilders sweep national competition with two-time Mr New Zealand as their coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHe was amazing, that kid. He\u2019s got a huge future,\u201d Lacy said.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Fernandez won the Classic Novice category. <\/p>\n

Devon Smith was second in Classic Bodybuilding and Open Bodybuilding. <\/p>\n

Jeff Maxim placed third in Bodybuilding and Classic Bodybuilding. <\/p>\n

Richard Orchard, the oldest competitor in the Whanganui team, was third in Bodybuilding over-45 and won the Classic over-45, \u201cwhich is a really hard category\u201d, Lacy said.<\/p>\n

Lacy helped the first-time bodybuilders prepare for the event over the past 16 weeks through strict training and diet plans, with some dropping up to 12kg. They learned how to pose, a key element of the competition, practising for two months.<\/p>\n

In the two weeks before the event, athletes began to cut additional weight, following a regimented diet and water intake plan to achieve emphasised muscles or a \u201cdry look\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a mind game … it\u2019s not even a sport, it\u2019s a lifestyle,\u201d Lacy said.<\/p>\n

Lacy has been retired from competitive bodybuilding for two years and found coaching to be a new way to give back and stay involved.<\/p>\n

As a personal trainer at City Fitness, he was already experienced in coaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved [coaching], but I\u2019ve still got the urge to jump on, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

He was first named Mr New Zealand<\/a> in 2021 after winning his age group and then the overall competition. He was named Mr New Zealand over-50 in 2023, at 51. <\/p>\n

He announced his retirement from competitive bodybuilding after the national competition in 2023, after a decade of competing as an amateur.<\/p>\n

He said the thing he loved most about the sport was the positive impact it could have on athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t just grow physically, it\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust seeing the change in them from 12\u201316 weeks out to the night \u2026 all that hard work pays off and smiling and just really enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lacy began competitive bodybuilding while undergoing rehabilitation for a neck injury he suffered when a rugby scrum collapsed on top of him. It became his new challenge and was especially difficult as a type-2 diabetic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt keeps you young, you know, healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a coach, it was rewarding to watch the impact it had on his athletes and their confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the thing that I love about it, you know, it changes their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bodybuilding had not been particularly popular in recent years in Whanganui, he said. <\/p>\n

In 2023, he was the only Whanganui competitor at the NABBA event. <\/p>\n

After this year\u2019s competition, he has more athletes, including females, wanting to get involved in the sport and train with him for next year\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to think it\u2019s a new era for bodybuilding [in Whanganui].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHe was amazing, that kid. He\u2019s got a huge future,\u201d Lacy said. Jeremy Fernandez won the Classic Novice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,47497,47495,23552,1320,47498,4596,1888,36568,305,47499,16564,3556,117,111,43,139,69,6564,7187,165,21638,47496,1883,102,80],"class_list":["post-56564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-as","tag-aspiring","tag-bodybuilders","tag-claimed","tag-coach","tag-coached","tag-competition","tag-first","tag-glen","tag-have","tag-lacy","tag-mr","tag-national","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sweep","tag-team","tag-their","tag-titles","tag-twotime","tag-whanganui","tag-with","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}